8 Ebedmelech went forth out of the king's house, and spake to the king, saying,
8 Ebed-Melek went out of the palace and said to him,
8 Ebed-melech went from the king's house and said to the king,
8 Ebed-melek went immediately from the palace to the king and said,
8 Ebed-Melech went out of the king's house and spoke to the king, saying:
8 so Ebed-melech rushed from the palace to speak with him.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 38:8
Commentary on Jeremiah 38:1-13
(Read Jeremiah 38:1-13)
Jeremiah went on in his plain preaching. The princes went on in their malice. It is common for wicked people to look upon God's faithful ministers as enemies, because they show what enemies the wicked are to themselves while impenitent. Jeremiah was put into a dungeon. Many of God's faithful witnesses have been privately made away in prisons. Ebed-melech was an Ethiopian; yet he spoke to the king faithfully, These men have done ill in all they have done to Jeremiah. See how God can raise up friends for his people in distress. Orders were given for the prophet's release, and Ebed-melech saw him drawn up. Let this encourage us to appear boldly for God. Special notice is taken of his tenderness for Jeremiah. What do we behold in the different characters then, but the same we behold in the different characters now, that the Lord's children are conformed to his example, and the children of Satan to their master?